


House Rules

by AutisticTenko



Category: New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Chess, Chess Metaphors, Gen, No death spoilers but you shouldnt read unless youve finished, minor spoilers for oumas ftes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-14
Updated: 2018-04-14
Packaged: 2019-04-22 19:49:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,196
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14315901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AutisticTenko/pseuds/AutisticTenko
Summary: Kokichi and Momota play chess.





	House Rules

**Author's Note:**

> Me, a few days ago, cracking my knuckles: how much bullshit symbolism can I fit into one fic.  
> Also Ouma is really, really, REALLY hard to write, but if I don't practice writing certain characters, I'll never get better at it... I guess.

Kokichi sat in the library, looking through various book titles and holding a chess set. If his predictions were correct - which they always were - Saihara would be important to helping everyone realise how to win the game due to the leader-like position nobody realised he had unintentionally taken, and based on past events, he also predicted that Saihara would be coming to speak to him any second now, hence the chess set he had ready. There were four games total he had planned - they had already done the rigged card game, so now there was just chess, rock-paper-scissors, and the knife game. He... wasn't looking forward to the last one, really, but never let it be said that Kokichi Ouma wasn't willing to go through a little pain for his desired outcome.

Growing restless, Kokichi stood up to go somewhere Saihara might be more likely to find him. As he walked around he couldn't help a nagging thought in the back of his head, the thought that Saihara would be avoiding him because of all the non-serious 'I have to kill you' talk, which was _obviously_  a lie considering their situation, and anyway, detectives are supposed to be naturally curious, right? Oh, but they're also supposed to be smart, and maybe he thought the smartest move would be to _not_  hang out with Kokichi, because Kokichi's pretty terrible, huh?

Maybe it _was_  just all the talk about killing him though. Probably not, but the thought was enough to satiate Kokichi until he walked into the courtyard to see Saihara hanging out with killer girl, which basically confirmed that wasn't the reason. Of course,  he didn't actually know what they were talking about, and as stated before, detectives are supposed to be smart, so maybe she actually had something really important to-

Yeah, no, he couldn't even finish that thought, though it did make him chuckle a bit.

"What are you laughing at?" Momota's voice behind him stopped his laughter (which probably made him look suspicious, but what else is new?), and he turned around to face him, smile on his face.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Kokichi's grin grew wider at Momota's scowl.

"'Course I want to know! You're looking at my sidekicks" oh, is that what she is? "and laughing like a maniac while holding a weird box! The fuck am I supposed to think you're doing!?" Kokichi pushed the chess set in his face.

"'Weird box'? You dont even know what a chess set is, Momota-chan?" Momota shoved the box away.

"I _do_  know what chess is, it's weird cause it's Monokuma themed!" ...Well, admittedly Kokichi had to give him that one. Not that he'd say that out loud, since Momota would probably act all smug about it, and he's so much more bearable after a a defeat.

Speaking of which... Momota and Saihara hang out a lot. The sooner this is done, the better, so maybe he could teach this one to Momota, and he'd tell Saihara later...? Well, it's not as if he can only play one game of chess during his entire time here, and this could be a rehearsal of sorts at the very least.

"Well, there's a very good reason it's Monokuma themed, Momota-chan. You see..." He looked down and put on his best scared face. "Monukuma came up to me this morning and told me that if I didn't play chess with someone using this set, I'd be... I'd be...!" His eyes grew wet and his lower lip trembled before he burst into tears. Looking back up at Momota, he could see that he didn't seem to know what to do, despite it being obvious. God, did Kokichi always have to lead _everyone_  to the answer? "PL-PLEASE PLAY W-WITH ME MOMOTA-CHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-AAAAA-AAAAAAA-"

"Okay, okay! Jeez, I'll play with you!" Kokichi's tears immediately cleared, and Momota sighed. "Y'know, if that's all you wanted, you just had to ask normally."

"Aw, but that's no fuuuuuuuuun." It's also smart to do stuff that will guarantee you get what you want, but Momota probably wouldn't be able to comprehend that. "Welp, let's go to my room so nobody's around to witness the murder! Oh, metaphorical murder, that is. Or maybe both!"

Surprisingly, Momota just sighed. "You're still going on about that? It's a pretty tasteless lie, y'know. Do you think anyone here still believes you'll do it?"

"Of course they do, because I will!" At least, he _hoped_  they still believed it, because there's no way this plan would work otherwise. Though, if Momota was doubting it, then other people might be too, which means he might have to try and...

...Well, he can think about that later. It's an absolute last resort, after all.

He was taken out of his thoughts by Momota smacking his forehead.

"Ow! Hey, what was that for?"

"You zoned out!"

"Huh? Wait, were you talking before you hit me? I got bored, so I stopped listening." Momota scowled, but Kokichi continued before he could say anything. "Anyway, let's get going to the Game Room!"

"The Game Room? I thought we were going to _your_  room." Yeah, he may have said that, but that was because Momota was supposed to get scared and suggest literally anywhere else so that they definitely _wouldn't_  go to Kokichi's room.

"Momota-chan, we only need one openly perverted character, and Iruma-chan already has that position filled!"

"Wha- _perverted_!?"

"Saying you want to go to my room where it'll just be us... you're really transparent, Momota-chan..."

"No, that's not it! You-" He cut himself off, clearly flustered. "Look, let's just get to the Game Room. I don't have the energy to argue with you on this." If this was all it took to make Momota more agreeable, he should try it more often.

The two made their way down to the Game Room with surprisingly little talking (though that was probably because Kokichi had started running, which Momota apparently took as a challenge, and it had ended in a tie. Kokichi wasn't exactly the most athletic person around - he was almost quite literally skin and bones - so Momota should've easily beaten him... was he okay?). Kokichi set up the chess set on the table, Momota sitting opposite him.

"Okay, I'll be black, and you'll be white!" Kokichi said.

"No way, everyone knows going second is best. I'll be black."

"What, do you not think you can win without an advantage? Besides, it's more fitting my way!" He held up both Kings - the black one had two red eyes in the same style of Monokuma's left eye, and the white one had two black eyes in the style of Monokuma's right eye. "These are both like Monokuma, so they're both evil, but the white one doesn't seem as threatening as the black one, which is open about how terrible it is! That's why I'm the black one, and you're the white one!"

" _You're_  the white one, because you're a liar, and I'm the black one because I'm honest!"

"Whatever helps you sleep at night, Momota-chan. But fine, if you're going to throw a hissy fit over which game pieces you get, you can have the black pieces. I'm surprised you think going second is best, though. Did you just want to argue with me?" Not that he wasn't happy to have an excuse to explain the reasoning he had basically just come up with, but Momota seemed the type to make the first move in a fight - to _want_  to, at least.

"Why would I want to argue with you? It's just 'cause you seem the type to think going second is best, so I'm starting with an advantage by taking you out of your comfort zone!" Damnit, was Kokichi really starting to get that predictable? No, it's probably just because most (smart) people say second is best, and Momota decided that applied to Kokichi. It pissed him off how Momota assumed he knows everything about a person.

"No way! Why wouldn't I want to be the one starting the game? The only person you've taken out of their comfort zone is yourself, Momota-chan!"

"...N-no I haven't, it doesn't matter to me!"

"You stuttered! It totally does matter! Man, you're such a bad liar."

"Just start already!" Kokichi laughed as Momota grumbled to himself. He went to move a Pawn forward - truth be told, he really, _really_  didn't like making the first move, but he'd never say so - but before he finished doing so, he withdrew his hand, suddenly remembering the reason he wanted to play chess in the first place.

"Oh yeah, one more thing-" Momota groaned. "We're playing using house rules!"

"House rules? _What_  house rules?"

"Okay, so you know how you usually win by defeating the King - you did know that, right?"

"I know how to fucking play chess!"

"Alright, alright, you don't need to swear. Anyway, the house rules - that is, how we play in my organisation - are that you win by clearing every piece. If the King dies along the way, that doesn't matter! You keep going!"

"...Okay, but why?"

"Because chess is a metaphor for life! You lose in chess when your King dies because you're the King, giving out orders to the lesser, dumber people around you, but if you're a * _good_ * King, you'll leave behind things for them to find so they can keep fighting without your guidance. Of course, the Queen can also give them orders if she's still alive, I guess."

"...Right. Is the Queen also a metaphor?"

" _Duh_ , Momota-chan! The King and Queen are married, so the Queen is whoever your most beloved person is! In my case, my Queen would be Saihara-chan."

"Like hell you two are that close! If anything, Shuichi's _my_ -" Momota cut himself off, face flushing red as he realised what he was saying, and Kokichi laughed. Honestly, Momota was so easy to tease and rile up, it might be cute if he wasn't so annoying... though, that last bit could probably apply to Kokichi too. However, instead of taking the extremely low hanging fruit, he decided that he'd rather get this chess game over with before Momota decided for whatever reason that he was another poor soul he had to take pity on and spout useless motivational quotes at to feed his own ego.

"O~kay, it's your move, Momota-chan!"

"Right..." Momota moved one of his Knights forward, seeming to forget that Kokichi was supposed to go first, though it was probably better for both of them this way.  
Kokichi moved a Pawn forward, only one space, and the rest of the game continued in silence - Kokichi found it surprising how quiet Momota could be when he was concentrating, and he wondered if Momota was thinking the same of him. The game came to an end once Kokichi took Momota's King, which ended up being his last piece anyway, and Kokichi had to admit that Momota put up a good fight, managing to get him down to only his Queen, a Knight, and a Bishop.

Hopefully reality would leave more than three survivors.

"Welp, looks like I win, Momota-chan! Not that there was any doubt of that, especially since you were dumb enough to keep your King alive for so long." Momota scowled.

"That's just because you were spouting all that nonsense about metaphors and shit! I thought you'd do the same!" ...Huh. So Momota played as if it were real? He did seem to try and save as many pieces as possible, like Kokichi did, but...

"Wow, Momota-chan's so self centered! You don't think your sidekicks - nay, _all_  of us can survive without your guidance?"

"No, but I'm not just gonna abandon them!"

"I'd say letting them die counts as abandoning them."

"Fucking- look, dude, this isn't that serious. It's _chess_." Momota emphasised his point by gesturing to the chessboard. "You can try all you want, but real life has way too many factors to be summarised with a board game!"

"Weren't you listening, Momota-chan? That's not what I'm doing, it's _metaphors_ , and chess also has prophetic powers! For example, if I die, Saihara-chan will lead with clues I left behind!" Wait, shit, too clear, backpedal, _backpedal_ \- "But that's a lie. There's nothing I'm leaving, because I'm going to win this killing game just like I won this chess game! I actually just wanted to mess with you." Momota's eyes widened, before he glared and reached over the table for Kokichi.

"You little-"

"Woop!" Kokichi dodged him, running closer to the exit and watching Momota fall onto the table, scattering chess pieces everywhere. "If it makes you feel better, I meant to do this with Saihara-chan, so I guess you did end up saving someone from _something_  at least." He opened the door, giving a cheeky grin and wave. "Thanks for cleaning up for me! Ta-ta!"

Of course, Momota wasn't one for giving up (easily), and gave chase before eventually relenting. During that time, it appeared that someone else cleared up the chess set, as Kokichi couldn't find it later. Not that it mattered - that lesson was probably too on-the-nose anyway. He could always think of something else.

**Author's Note:**

> "Hey could you really not try and find a better explanation as to why he gives up on playing chess with Saihara at the end?" Absolutely not, have a terrible day


End file.
